Nope, nothing to do with the weekend weather. While I've been off cavorting with my new druid chums, it appears half of Cliftonville has gone up in smoke. For those of you who are still unaware of the major fire in Northdown Road, you can catch up here, here, here, here, and here.
Inspector Knacker is said to be investigating. Not for nothing is it called the Arsonists' Playground!
Updates here and here. Anyone with any information should contact Margate police station on 01843 231055 or talk to one of the Cliftonville plastic bobbies as soon as possible.
25 comments:
What sickens me is that there a few nice businesses hanging on, like Batchelors cafe ,and Lovelys art shop in that block.
They will no doubt be affected either directly by smoke damage or, by a general giving up on Northdown road as a place to shop as it is too depressing and now resembles the mouth of a smiling Wino .
This area is beyond hope, why would anyone open a business here it is not cheap for rent and council tax and the financial and aspirational poverty is endemic.
A soon to be departed DFL .
Perhaps they had a few cans of that Thor flame retardant chemical on the scaffolding ECR ?
"I wonder if it will put a fag out ?"
Boooooom
Yes it must be very upsetting for the few businesses which are trading successfully along there. The best way we can help is to go there this week and patronise them, if they are actually open for business.
Sadly there is a lot of truth in what 10.00 says.
Nice beaches and Georgian Architecture by themselves cannot swing this area round . It is the lack of vision of a lot of locals and council officers in particular that hold Thanet back. Whilst they jostle for position and line their own pockets the area is getting noticably worse.
I tell my friends who come down to visit about the Ezeikiel saga and they cannot believe such a moron controls the future of the island .
If he was a doctor, policeman headteacher etc he would have been out on his lardy white arse by now as his behaviour is not acceptable.
I thought of relocating my business here but decided that the depressing state of local politics here more akin to rural Sicily, would cause too many problems.
I think we will move away soon possibly nearer to Canterbury where the local council is more enlightened and encouraging of businesses other than arsonists, and New Zealand airport operators.
It is a shame that they cannot all be removed from office and replaced by a group who see what is good about the area and have a clearly defined masterplan for the future.
We are also thinking of moving to Canterbury. We have had five years of empty promises and incompetent (bordering on the seemingly corrupt) local government round here and enough is enough. They couldn't even make it work in the boom years so god knows what will happen now there is a recession.
My friends in London roll on the floor laughing when I tell them about Sandy and co. Many have also become fans of this blog for its entertainement value.
Yes it is funny, unless you have to live here. I do feel sorry for the businesses that have gone in Northdown Road though.
Maybe they could rename it Burntdown Road?
Thats funny, my friends in Margate roll on the floor when tell them about Boris.
I wish I had known about your blog before moving here.
Like some of the other commenters we moved here on the back of a lot of hype about fast rail links and the promise of good prospects for us and our children.
All we have seen is terrible management on the part of the council trying to sell off any resource regardless if they own it and , and the deployment of time and money on pointless projects and drawn out legal battles. There are now virtually no cultural activities left or anything to do when the sun stops shining as they have been closed by the present council.
I really think anywhere else in the country they would have been replaced now by a government appointed body until such time as the corruption and incompentance had been weeded out, as they are not fit for purpose.
Because it is Thanet there is a resigned attitude that it has always been like this and will never change. Anyone thinking about relocating do not make the mistake we did, look elsewhere.
But what about the poor firemen having to put Thanet fires out with Thanet water ? And breathe in the residues.
perhaps Mr Gale will be more articulate on fires than he is on firearms in Thanet
I would like to know if Jimmy Godden has paid for the new fencing around the Scenic Railway?
If Thanet council want to send a message that arson is an unacceptable crime that ruins towns and lives then they should enforce the £40.000 payment immeadiately.
Even if he was not behind the current torching his behaviour has made it open season on setting fire to buildings out of greed for personal gain, or does he have too many friends on the council ?
oh god its all true...even the DFLs have had enough.. what a depressing state of affairs, i dont think jg had anything to do with this one tho, just glad no one was injured.if it wasnt for the beaches this would be a dreadful place to live ..lets hope sandy and his cronies dont ruin them...?
ps anyone know how to build a guillotine??
I am reminded 2.59 of a letter to IOTG a few years back, (was it after Pleasurama fire or Marine Terrace or Dover?; I can't remember) but the letter was from a Retd Wing Commander RAF who suggested that the German Government award J Godden Esq with an Iron Cross for having more damaged property than inflicted on East Kent by the Luftwaffe.
Rumour on Northdown Road has it thathe has a business interest in Time Tunnel. Can this be true?
How does JG get insurance?
If it was you or I one dodgy fire and that would be the end of it, no claims settled . If companies turned him down then presumably he would not get anything but at the moment it clearly works for him.
By the way does anyone know if he is opting for burial or cremation come his day of reckoning
LOL!
anonymous at 0823 that was quite funny, but why all the anonymity? It's beyond me.
Regarding the 'London' comments, I have tumbled out of The City after 15 good and mixed years, and have owned property here for the entirety of that time.
Do you people actually get out at all and experience what is going on across this island we inhabit?
It can be difficult to find good places to go, but you really do have to make the effort.
My parents were born in Canterbury and I went to college and university there, and lived in Whitstable prior to that. What drew you to the island?
A lack of an ability to research your destination?
Try finding some of the better bars, restaurants, cafes and pubs across the island, go for walks, bike rides and star spotting.
Such a beautiful place and so many people here who have no idea how to look at the sky and not at their naval or the pavement...
remaining anonymous is important when talking about people like Jimmy Godden and the council.
Previous posts show that council workers read the comments and Godden had his lawyers looking at posts not so long ago. Neither party would be beyond some form of retribution.
David Bryant , we all moved here because of the natural beauty and some of the good things like shops and bars , the point is that at this rate there will not be many of these things left to thrive due to a lack of encouragment by the council and plain criminality on the part of Godden.
We have lost all our museums small businesses struggle with the business rates here which are higher than Whitstable and more parking restrictions on the high streets therefore killing the town centres.
The council appear only to support bigger businesses such as the airport that twist them round there little fingers, and a small group of masons/gangsters who ruin the area for their own gain.
The sea and the sky are not going to change , David but by having some sort of debate like we do here,we might change the mediocre representation we have and get a council worthy of the area
Type Jimmy Godden arsonist into google and you get 964 posts.
There will probably be a few more before the end of the week .
David - we have to walk along looking at the pavement otherwise our shoes would be covered in dog sh*t.
Of course there are all the good things you talk about, which is what attracted me, but what upsets me is that there is so much potential that is not being realised because we lack people with vision on the council. Their idea of regeneration is a business park here, an airport there, another block of flats somewhere else. We really need someone to come along and 'get' what this place could be all about - eco-research, eco-tourism, weekend breaks, great local produce, that sort of thing.
Dear nymous of midnight, or David, as you like to be known, this is a comments column and, as such, it often doesn't matter who you are but what you say.
To assume the reverse would be quite arrogant, wouldn't it?
Was that beyond you, or did you mean to say 'beneath you'?
Nymous of midnight... hmmm well Lucy, you realise that I finish work at 0330 normally, so I was in early last night and enjoying a night off.
Beyond me or beneath me? I can taste the sarcasm but you need to elucidate.
I can understand anonymity if you wish to be slanderous or malign people and then publish it - and given we all seem to understand publishing on line is the same legally as if it was in print. So fair enough if Godden, TDC et al are litigious, but most other blogs I use people have nicknames. My universal one is 'nesersert', as there is only one on line - me. Research it if you want - you won't find the answer on line you have to go to a real library. The point really being that it is simple to trace an IP address to the house/land line/phone number transmitting it, so anonymity is a misnomer...
I do feel that in order to move things along, constructive comments will make things happen. Are any of you guys members of the Margate Town Partnership, Rotarians, Old Town Action Group, Chamber of Commerce of Business Link? Anything like that?
This could be a good forum, and I think I might comment for a while, and at least I have stirred things a little, which is always fun.
Maybe I should call myself SOE, as according to bloggers on this site I am Sandy Ezekiel's son (son of Ezekiel) ... and the connotations of that acronym holds dear to my heart (Special Operations Executive), oh, Airey Neave bless you sir.
I can't believe Beano's has gone! Where am I gonna get my hangover cures from now???
So good that you can spare the time to grace us with your presence, David Bryant.
We won't need all the incomplete dick-heads any more, now that you've decided to bestow us with your wholeness!
Dear-oh-dear, what a twat!
1. If you think Margate is "a dreadful place to live", you don't get out enough.
2. TDC, bad as it is, can't control mad arsonists or organised crime.
3. We lost our museums because they were managed appallingly and with no responsibilty towards the public that financed them.
4.if you have to ask why people post anonymously, you haven't been using blogs for very long. Keep identifying yourself and you will find out soon enough.
Well, David Bryant, what's your hang-up with anonymity? Have just clicked on your name and it tells us nothing except that 10 others have done so. You are as anonymous as I am, but if you like I will sign myself out properly.
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